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The Character Of Equality In Ayn Rand's Anthem

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The infamous founder of all Apple products once said, “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.’ In the restrictive cutthroat world shown in the novella, Anthem, citizens are forced from birth to obey every rule no matter the consequence. However, one individual decided to betray the norm. His name is Equality 7-2521. This character has a motivational drive and mindset like no other in his community without a doubt. He has a passion for doing the unthinkable and unimaginable driven by an unstoppable force and does not obsess over what others thought of him or his actions. Society today could use more people similar to Equality, but it would have its strengths and weaknesses. Some benefits include more leaders, confident actions, …show more content…

He helped humanity in his time and altered the way things worked out. The rules did not apply the same way anymore. It is smart of him to believe to put others first before himself. In class, a speech was displayed on the board from TedTalk.com about altruism and the positives and negatives of it. Showing the true meaning of what an altruist is. Ayn Rand’s character, Equality, acts and feels exactly how these people feel. An altruist is a person who is unselfishly concerned for or devoted for the welfare of others. This is how Equality acted in the beginning of the book but towards the end, he turned into more of an egoist. An egoist is the complete opposite of an altruist. An egoist is a self-centered or selfish person. At the end of the novella, Equality was brasher and started using the word “I” in his monologues about how everything was going to change because of the amazing thing that he discovered and did all by himself. That was wrong of Equality to do because his friends helped him along the way in his journey and did not quit on him even though they could have been killed. His friends really helped and Equality was not as sincere and grateful for them as they were for him. There was definitely a huge shift in his character traits in the last two chapters of the

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At the beginning of Anthem Equality has changed his mind about a lot of things in the beginning of the story. Equality got picked to be a street sweeper by the government, but he really wanted to be a scholar but couldn’t because of the government. Equality had a rough life. Well he was a street sweeper but he was smart enough to be a scholar the government did not think he was. In the book anthem by ayn rand Equality was not good for any body or anything at the beginning he had a rough start to his life.

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In Ayn Rand's story Anthem, the protagonist Equality 7-2521 has a power unlike no other within their collectivist society. One day when Equality was working as a street sweeper, he finds an old abandoned underground railroad tunnel from the Unmentionable Times long ago. This is where he conducts his experiments that fill him with pride and joy. Equality dreams how his new invention that he brought into existence can change the world, but helping mankind is not his true motivation behind his passion to create. Throughout the story, Equality's true motivation is him trying to find his inner self and his identity as an individual.

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Unlike during the Unmentionable Times, when men created “towers [that] rose to the sky,” it is an affliction to be born with powerful intellectual capacity and ambition in Ayn Rand’s apocalyptic, nameless society in Anthem. Collectivism is ostensibly the moral guidepost for humanity, and any perceived threat to the inflexible, authoritarian regime is met with severe punishment. The attack on mankind’s free will and reason is most evident in the cold marble engraving in the Palace of the World Council: “We are one in all and all in one. There are no men but only the great WE, One, indivisible and forever” (6). Societal norms force homogeneity and sacrifice among all people.

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This made Equality find out who he is and gave him the chance to be an individual. Equality’s views and mindset changes through out the book. He was born in a society where people are named by numbers. A world where people are used as machines. In this world the word “I” is out of existence.

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Individuality allows every person to be themselves and be different from each other. However, In Ayn Rand’s novella Anthem, Rand describes a society where the people were not allowed to openly be themselves, or else they would be punished for being different. The main character, Equality, notices he is different slowly throughout the novella, but kept continuing to be like everyone else for awhile. These rules exist in this society to strip human individuality in order to achieve total equality.

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In Ayn Rand’s novella, Anthem, mankind is a philanthropic machine. The brotherhood nobly works together to achieve a common goal. In doing so, each man is asked to disregard his own personal means and goals. For every decision must be a collective thought and every advancement, a joint action. However, one man in this machine malfunctions.

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Equality’s main motivation is to discover new things and new ideas in the world around him. Early on in the novella, Equality finds a tunnel from the Unmentionable

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Equality 7-2521 can free himself from collectivism because he was independent. In the novel Anthem Ayn Rand makes us comprehend that Equality had and inner struggle and

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Collectivism and Selfishness in Anthem Imagine living in a world where everybody's lives are completely mapped out by the government. Where every decision is made without the input of the citizens it affects. In the novella Anthem, Ayn Rand depicts a completely collectivist society, where every idea, action, and invention is purely for the benefit of society as a whole. Everything is done with the entire population in mind, and individuality is extremely frowned upon.

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Equality does this by when he first falls in love with Liberty, he is obsessed. However, when his invention is rejected by the council, he starts to realize he doesn’t need to be in a group and in result, starts to love Liberty less. When he understand individuality fully, he becomes very selfish and doesn’t care for Liberty at all and thinks of her as an object. Equality felt he needed to be with a group and with Liberty. Through his journey he discovered that he doesn’t need to be with a group and can be independent.

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So long a road lies before us, and what care if we must travel it alone!” (54) In this statement all Equality cares about is his invention and he is still trying to expand his

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With all of his experience that nobody has known in at least a century he is extremely capable of deciding whether of his choices are right. His personality keeps him from giving up hope and giving up on his society and his companion but keeps him curious enough to keep searching for something better in life. Equality has aged to the point where he thinks he needs to change the world and will try to do so. Most would believe that Equality’s actions were righteous and could not contemplate that his actions were

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1067 Words | 5 Pages

In the final chapters of the book, after Equality and The Golden One have discovered their new house and proposed to build a new life, they read books in its intact library and so discover the forbidden word, “I” (94). This discovery prompts Equality to radically overhaul his entire way of going through life, aligning it to Rand’s Objectivist philosophy. His focus on himself, illustrated through his obsession with the word I is show in the last two chapters of the book, where he latches on to the idea that devoting one’s life to only oneself is the only appropriate way to live life. Rand shows this with statements from Equality such as, “I owe nothing to my brothers, nor do I gather debts from them”(96). Equality is proclaiming that his life will be best lived in a purely selfish manner, where he will not take care of anyone else, but will not ask anyone to take care of him either.

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She was just standing there with her eyes wide. She was pointing at something, so I looked in the direction that she was pointing at but nothing was there. I picked her up and carried her back to the lab. I was trying to think what might have happened.

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725 Words | 3 Pages

Equality discovers what individualism is and what it means, but when Equality finds out what it means it changes his view throughout the

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